The invention relates to a vehicle-washing system for washing of vehicles, in particular a portal vehicle-washing system, comprising high-pressure lateral spray devices arranged on both sides of a vehicle-washing position and each having spray nozzles for cleaning of the sides of the vehicle, whereby the spray nozzles cover with their spray angles an area up to a preadjusted height corresponding to the height of a passenger vehicle, and comprising a carrier elevationally adjustable in relation to the contour of the vehicle, on which carrier is arranged in particular a washing brush for cleaning the roof of the vehicle.
Such a vehicle wash is known to the inventor as the state of the art. Lateral high-pressure pipes extend in such a vehicle wash along lateral columns of a portal-like frame on both sides of the vehicle-washing position. Each high-pressure pipe is equipped with a plurality of spray nozzles arranged in such a manner that the uppermost spray nozzle covers with its spray angle the edge of the roof of a passenger vehicle.
With this arrangement of the spray nozzles, the spraying into an unoccupied space is avoided, in particular, into the surrounding area of the vehicle-washing system, so that parts of the vehicle-washing apparatus become unnecessarily wet. The latter is undesired in particular in portal vehicle-washing systems since the unnecessary wetness of parts of the vehicle wash results in an unwelcome dripping during a drying process following the washing operation.
Minivans and off-road vehicles have lately become more and more popular. These vehicles are higher than the usual passenger vehicles. When these vehicles or even higher small busses or transporters are washed with the conventional vehicle washes, then a high-pressure prewash in the upper area of the vehicle, namely in an area which is higher than the normal height of a passenger vehicle, is not sufficient.
It has therefore already been suggested to use an additional lateral nozzle pipe in order to improve the prewash in the upper area of the vehicle, which nozzle pipe is added when a taller vehicle is sensorically recognized. In order to control this additional lateral nozzle pipe, high-pressure valves are used which enable a controlled fluid supply to the nozzle pipes. Such high-pressure valves are expensive and are susceptible to breakdown because of dirt particles contained in reconditioned washing water. Further, the control devices needed for this are technically complicated. Since for reasons of expense only, one high-pressure pump is supposed to be used, the nozzles of the high-pressure pipes can furthermore not be optimally positioned in the conventional vehicle wash. Thus, to wash common passenger vehicles, merely one nozzle pipe is used per side of a vehicle, whereas the pumping capacity remains unchanged when the additional nozzle pipe for taller vehicles is required. The cleaning effect for taller vehicles is therefore not satisfactory.
Compared with this, the basic purpose of the invention is to provide a vehicle-washing system which in a technically simple manner has a good washing result for both passenger vehicles and also taller vehicles.
This purpose is attained in the above-mentioned vehicle wash in such a manner that with each lateral spray device is associated a further spray nozzle provided on the carrier, which spray nozzle is connected to the associated lateral spray device through a flexible fluid pipeline, and that the spray angle of the further spray nozzles each cover one lateral area of the vehicle directed onto the vehicle-washing position, which lateral area follows the upper contour of the vehicle to be washed.
All spray nozzles are always operated with the inventive solution regardless of the height of the vehicle to be washed so that expensive high-pressure valves are not needed to be switched between various operating modes and the technical requirements can be kept low.
Due to the lowering ability of the further spray nozzles, they are able to be adapted at an optimum to the upper contour or height of the vehicle to be washed so that even in the case of taller vehicles a good cleaning result can always be achieved in their upper area. The spray angle of the further spray nozzles overlaps in the case of lower passenger vehicles with the spray height of the lateral spray nozzles arranged next to the vehicle-washing position. This, however, does not interfere with the cleaning behavior but rather enhances the cleaning action or a rinsing process in the sharply pulled-in area of the edge of the roof of passenger vehicles of the new design. The elevational adjustability of the further spray nozzles enables an optimum adaptation to the height of the vehicle and prevents that these nozzles spray into empty space. Moreover, all spray nozzles can thus be designed at an optimum as high-pressure nozzles.
An upper flank of the spray angle of the further spray nozzle extends advantageously up to the upper contour of the vehicle, through which occurs at an effective high-pressure prewash up to the upper contour of the vehicle including the area of the edge of the roof with an optimum use of the applied cleaning water.
An upper flank of the spray angle extends according to an advantageous development to directly below a peripheral area of the horizontally arranged washing brush or slightly into the area thereof. This arrangement enables a coupling of the contour guide of the washing brush with the further spray nozzles so that the control requirement during the high-pressure prewash is kept low and at the same time an effective rinsing of the vehicle to be washed is achieved.
All spray nozzles of one or both spray devices are, according to an advantageous development of the invention, pressurized by a common pump. With this the design requirement of the pressure-supply system can be kept small.
The further spray nozzles are advantageously arranged approximately at the height of the bottom edge of the washing brush spaced in axial direction from said brush. This makes it possible in a particularly simple manner that an area just below the washing brush, namely in the area of the upper contour of a vehicle, is reached with the further spray nozzles. The washing brush can hereby be used to stop the spread of a misty spray reflected by the vehicle. With the arrangement next to the axial ends of the washing brushes, a particularly compact design is obtained, in which the movement of the washing brush is not influenced by the position of the further spray nozzles.
Each downwardly directed high-pressure pipe is according to an advantageous development mounted to the elevationally adjustable carrier on the two sides of the washing brush, which high-pressure pipe has one of the further spray nozzles for cleaning of an area of the edge of the roof. With this an elevationally exact placement of the further spray nozzles can be accomplished in a particularly simple manner. Since the mounting occurs directly to the carrier of the washing brush, the high-pressure pipe and thus also the further spray nozzles are automatically adjusted with the elevational adjustment of the washing brush to the correct vehicle height following the upper contour.
The spray nozzles on the carrier are advantageously supplemented with at least one additional nozzle provided on said carrier, the spray angle of which is directed for cleaning of a roof of a vehicle onto an area of the roof of the vehicle in the vehicle-washing position. The at least one additional nozzle can be arranged at any desired point on the carrier, whereby attention must be paid that the spray range of same can reach the roof of the vehicle, which is in the vehicle-washing position, undisturbed by the washing brush.
The spray angle of the at least one additional nozzle is advantageously directed onto an area directly in front of the washing brush, in relationship to a relative movement between the washing brush and the vehicle to be washed. This arrangement is particularly advantageous when during a washing of a vehicle, a separate washing operation for a high-pressure rinsing in particular of the roof of the vehicle is supposed to be avoided. Two separate additional nozzles are provided in a particularly advantageous development, which additional nozzles are arranged next to the two axial ends of the washing brush on each arm cantilevered from the carrier, preferably above the axis of rotation of the washing brush. With this a particularly efficient high-pressure rinsing of the roof area of the vehicle is accomplished, with the roof area of the vehicle to be washed being initially cleaned with high-pressure water just before the washing brush and directly thereafter with the essentially horizontally extending washing brush.
The additional nozzles are advantageously also fed by the pump of the spray devices, which results in a particularly simple design of the high-pressure spray device.
The lateral spray devices for each vehicle side include, according to a further advantageous development of the invention, a vertical high-pressure pipe which has spray nozzles and is arranged next to the vehicle-washing position, whereby the flexible fluid pipeline extends from the high-pressure pipe to the associated further spray nozzle on the carrier. Thus it is possible to keep the fluid connection between the further spray nozzles arranged on the elevationally adjustable carrier and the spray nozzles stationary in their height on the high-pressure pipes next to the vehicle-washing position as short as possible so that the occurrence of compression vibrations in the high-pressure range is avoided.
According to an advantageous development of the invention, a device for sensing the upper contour of a vehicle, which is in the vehicle-washing position, is provided, which cooperates with a control device to lower the elevationally adjustable carrier to a height associated with the contour of the vehicle, at which height the further spray nozzles provided on the carrier spray the area of the upper contour of the vehicle. By coupling the elevational adjustment of the further spray nozzles with the elevational adjustment of the carrier in order to regulate the horizontally extending wash brush, an additional control requirement for the adjustment of the further spray nozzles provided on the carrier to the height of the vehicle can be avoided.